Press Release

With over 150 Youth Delegates from G20 countries, IIT Guwahati successfully hosted Youth 20 Inception Meet 2023

Publish Date:08-02-2023

With over 150 Youth Delegates from G20 countries, IIT Guwahati successfully hosted Youth 20 Inception Meet 2023

  • The grand event laid the groundwork for programmes of Y20 during India's G20 Presidency
  • The 3-day event witnessed multiple Panel Discussions and Deliberations
  • Over 1200 college/university students participated in these events

GUWAHATI, 8th February 2023: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati successfully hosted the First Youth20 Inception Meet 2023 with over 150 Youth delegates from G20 countries. The 3-day event provided a platform to connect with the youths and consult their ideas for a sustainable and progressive future.

The Y20 Inception Meet started off in the esteemed presence of Smt. Meeta Rajivlochan, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Govt. of India, along with Sh. B Narayanan, Director General, NE Zone, Ministry of I & B, Govt. of India, Sh. Kalyan Chakravarthy, Principal Secretary, Government of Assam and Prof Parameswar K Iyer, Officiating Director, IIT Guwahati.

During her address Smt. Meeta Rajivlochan, Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Govt. of India highlighted the five themes of Y20 Meet. These include –

I. Future of Work: Industry 4.0, Innovation & 21st Century skills,

II. Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: Making Sustainability a way of life

III. Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Ushering in an era of No War

IV. Shared Future: Youth in Democracy and Governance

V. Health, Wellbeing & Sports: Agenda for Youth

Another key highlight of the 3-day event included a ‘Youth dialogue’ held by Shri Anurag Thakur, Hon’ble Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt. of India, followed by the launch of white paper on various themes.

Speaking during the session, ‘Youth Dialogue with Youth Minister’, Shri Anurag Thakur said, “Digital transformation, coupled with the energy of youth, is propelling India towards becoming a superpower. Youth is the engine which drives the nation towards success. Innovation, entrepreneurship will be the corner stone for the youth-led development anywhere in the world. This is an era of opportunity for the youth and it must be leveraged to address the global challenges. The Y20 Meet would exemplify the youth-centric efforts and showcase policy measures ideated by the youth.”

Speaking during the launch of Y20 Meet White Paper, Hon’ble Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports said, “The G20 presidency of India will work to promote the sense of global unity and therefore out moto ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.’ The process of inclusion of our youth including participation in decision making promotes their role as active contributors to the society. The Y20 forum will discuss the modalities and mechanism for developing well-crafted policy recommendations by the youth representatives for relevant G20 and Y20 priority agenda of Global Health Architecture, Digital Transformation and Sustainable Energy Transition.”

The Y20 Meet also hosted panel discussion on Peace-building and Reconciliation: Ushering in an Era of No War, participated by eminent speakers and leaders. The Panel comprised Gen VK Singh (Retd), MoS, Govt. of India; Mr. Tejasvi Surya, MP; Lt. Gen. Satish Dua (Retd), Indian Army; Mr. Gyanendra Pratap Singh, IPS, DGP, Govt. of Assam; Mr. Hiren Chandra Nath, ADGP(STF/SB), Assam; Mr. Bipul Kalita, surrendered Insurgent and Mr. Binal Warry, surrendered Insurgent which was moderated by Ms. Kanchan Gupta, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India.

Speaking about hosting the Y20 Meet at IIT Guwahati, Prof. Parameswar K Iyer, Officiating Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “We are proud to host the Technical sessions, deliberations and youth dialogue of the Y20 Inception Meet and IIT Guwahati is enthusiastically making its contribution in frontier technological developments for a sustainable future and for the betterment of public at large.”

The 3-day event hosted key panel discussions on the topics including ‘Future of work: Twenty first century skills’, ‘Climate change’, ‘Making sustainability a way of life’, and ‘Peace building and reconciliation’, at IIT Guwahati.

Along with this, Hon’ble Education Minister of Assam, Dr. Ranoj Pegu, also presented a collection of thematic research papers from students and academicians of Assam to Shri Anurag Thakur, Hon’ble Union Minister during the event.

The Youth20 Inception meeting also provided an opportunity for innovators and start-up companies of IIT Guwahati and the incubation hubs of the region to showcase their products in areas of healthcare, renewable energy, 3D printing, EV, sustainable materials, plant tissue culture, food technologies and green hydrogen production.

The delegates of youth 20 were also involved in the nature walk, bird watching and yoga sessions.

Under India’s presidency of the G20, the Y20 Meet brought together the trustees of our future generations from across the G20 countries to deliberate, discuss and deduce innovative, sustainable, and actionable solutions, especially in the realm of social development. It provided a unique opportunity to allow the youth to provide constructive policy inputs and to utilize the platform to voice their opinions for the world audience. It is one of the eight official engagement groups under the G20 umbrella.

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